Balfour Beatty lifts profits

Construction group Balfour Beatty today said its order book had reached a record £8.8bn (€13bn) while trading in its key sectors remained positive.

The specialist in private finance initiative (PFI) contracts said pre-tax profits lifted 15% to £60 million for the half-year to July 1 while revenues rose to £2.77bn (€4.1bn) from £2.3bn (€3.4bn) last year.